Mr. Reed An Important Community Servant

On Friday January 27th Northwood’s longtime faculty member Stephen Reed was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the North Country Community College. Mr. Reed has been on the board since August, and will now be taking on the lead role.

Mr. Stephen Reed, presiding over his first meeting as North Country Community College Board Chairman. (Photo: Chris Knight for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise)

One of the most important parts of Mr. Reed’s new job will be the task of improving the relationship between the board and the college’s faculty, which has been contentious in recent years. Mr. Reed will also be working closely with Steve Tyrell, the president of the NCCC, to help Tyrell achieve his vision for the college. The Board of Trustees oversees the creation and implementation of that vision.

Mr. Reed said he took the job because “Over the years I have tried to pay the community back with service, and this is an area where I feel I have some expertise and can make a positive contribution, and I really look forward to working with the people of the college.”

Mr. Reed has been a teacher at Northwood for over 40 years, and has also held positions of chair of the English Department, assistant headmaster, head of college guidance, director of hockey operations, and coach. He believes that despite Northwood being very different from NCCC in the aspect that the College has a much wider variety of courses, faculty and purposes, his experience at Northwood and interest and love for the education process will help with his new job.

This is not the only position that Reed has taken outside of Northwood. He was a town justice from 1992-1996, on the Essex County Mental Health Association board from 1996-2006, on the Adirondack Medical Center (now Adirondack Health) board for nine years, and also served as the president of the Lake Placid School Board. He has also served on the boards of the Lake Placid/North Elba Historical Society and the Adirondack Experience. He is currently a director of the Deo Coburn Foundation, which manages an 8 million dollar fund, and gives college scholarships to local high school students based on academic merit and good character.

Mr. Reed values the positive effect he can have on the small community of Lake Placid, and said, “I really like being a part of the community and being able to give back. This is a real small town and here you can have a positive effect on a lot of things, and I really try to do that.”

Mr. Reed says the most meaningful position he has taken outside of Northwood is probably the one with the Deo Coburn Foundation. He is deeply committed to the foundation and said that he “cherishes the opportunity to do real good for the students in the community that have demonstrated their character and worthiness.”